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Abstract

Dynamic scaling behavior has been observed during the room-temperature growth of sputtered
Au films on SiO2using the atomic force microscopy technique. By the analyses of the dependence of
the roughness, σ, of the surface roughness power,P(f), and of the correlation length,ξ, on the film thickness,h, the roughness exponent,α = 0.9 ± 0.1, the growth exponent,β = 0.3 ± 0.1, and the dynamic scaling exponent,z = 3.0 ± 0.1 were independently obtained. These values suggest that the sputtering
deposition of Au on SiO2at room temperature belongs to a conservative growth process in which the Au grain
boundary diffusion plays a dominant role.